Can you believe this beautiful blue? And the red sand? How about the white mountains in the background?

Last week, we were fortunate enough to visit Lake Powell in Page, Arizona near the Utah border.

Tom was hired to film two depositions, one in Kingman which is only 45 minutes from our home. The other in Page which was a six hour drive for us. Tom towed the boat behind his truck to the local deposition while the girls and I packed suitcases and coolers for the trip. We waited for Tom’s call that the job was done, and we headed to join him in Kingman. I was glad to leave my car there at the Marriott since it was pouring rain. We transferred ourselves, our luggage and such to Tom’s truck, and began the long drive to Page around 7pm. We arrived at the hotel at 1am. Surprisingly the girls stayed awake the whole time, enjoying what we could see of the scenery and towns along the way, and listening to Tom and I talk. We have a way of making conversations funny, each trying our best to make the other laugh.

Tom requested a wake-up call since my phone couldn’t decide which time zone it liked… Arizona’s or Utah’s. When the phone rang at 7am, Tom answered it then promptly fell back to sleep still clutching the phone. I should have taken a photo. It would have been priceless.

Marriott Swimming Pool

The girls and I slept in a bit, then headed down to breakfast. It was an unusual arrangement, a cook-it-yourself buffet. Teenagers loitered around the waffle maker blocking access to buffet plates. We were finally able to grab plates and waited our turn to toast our bread. There were a few scrambled eggs in heating trays, and two frying pans pre-heating for your eggs of choice. We scooped up what we could find, sliced watermelons, biscuits, gravy, bacon, cereal and milk, then headed to our table. Tom came in and grabbed a few pieces of bacon from my plate, then left again as his recording job was about to begin. The girls and I cleaned our plates… not literally… paid our bill, threw a tip on there for good measure, and went back to our room to change for the pool. Almost had the pool to ourselves. The water and air were both warm, and the girls swam for nearly an hour. Tom took a break to join us before returning to the conference room.

It wasn’t long before Tom texted that he was done. While he packed up his video equipment, we got ready for the lake. Just 2 miles from our hotel was Glen Canyon Dam. We crossed the Dam, then pulled into the Visitor’s Center to take a few photos.

Glen Canyon Dam

We continued on to the Glen Canyon National Recreation Area and the Wahweap Marina boat launch. Tom launched the boat and tied it to the dock while he parked the truck. He thinks he parked in Utah. That was quite the marina!

“Where do you want to go, guys?!”, asked Tom.

“Let’s go see the dam!”, we replied.

It was a short cruise to the dam, and we got as close as we could. We posed for pics. We cannon-balled into the water. We had fun!

“Now what do you want to do?”, asked Tom.

“Let’s visit an island!”, said Pearl.

We were able to drop anchor near our own private island which had a built in, nature-made hot tub. It was glorious!

Swimming @ Lake Powell / Glen Canyon Dam

Private Island with hot tub

“Now what do you want to do?”, asked Tom.

“Let’s see if we can get around that white mountain.”, we said.

But passage was not possible as the water was too low. We turned our boat around and headed off to find a beach. The goal, to make a red sand castle.

We anchored near a beautiful sandy beach, the one pictured at the start of this post. We quickly found out we should wear shoes on this beach as there are mean pickers everywhere! But there are also gorgeous rocks and wind-swept sand undisturbed by man, insect or animal.

Thorns, Rocks, Sand

The girls and I explored the area, but the pickers soon forced us to return to the beach. Tom started the sand castle project, and Pearl added the finishing touches.

Red Sand Castle

The waves from a passing tour boat leveled our castle and nearly beached our boat, but we all managed to push it back into the water, climb in, and return to the marina. We drove to the hotel, changed for dinner, and scouted out a pizzaria we had seen earlier. The Canyon King Pizzaria to be exact. Dinner was delicious! We had spicy meatballs, hot wings, pepperoni pizza and lasagna with cold sodas and beer.

We all slept well that evening, then awoke early the next day to visit the Powell Museum before heading home. We saw Navajo artifacts and dinosaur casts.

Lake Powell Museum

It was fun, educational, and relaxing. Couldn’t have asked for more from a working vacation.

• Have you ever built a red sand castle?

• Do you stick your head (or other body parts) in museum dinosaur exhibits?

I love AZ and Utah! I haven’t been to Lake Powell, but have driven through Kingman on Route 66 to see Hoover Dam two times.

My son has two days off in a row, so we are going to Cincinnati next week. Been there lots of times, but we needed to go somewhere close since we only have two nights.Bijoux recently posted..LeBron Who?

Hi Dick! All is good here. Tom saw an Officer speak to our neighbor as he was trying to walk along the back of our home again. Needless to say, he turned around and went back the way he came. Tom also saw him walking on Hwy. 95 near Mattressland. I honestly haven’t seen him, and all is peaceful! I hope things are good with you too. Thanks again for stopping by.

Love Lake Powell. We used to own a boat similar to yours and there are days we miss it. Looks like a fun time for all, but then again how could one not have a great time at Powell 🙂Ingrid recently posted..Discovering Denver

Just beautiful. I’ve been to Lake Powell once. It’s gorgeous. My sister used to live in Phoenix, and the whole family took a trip there (about 17 of us in fact, kids and all.) We took a boat tour though. Gosh, the memories, my daughter was only a few months old at the time.

That photo of you all by the damn is incredible, and scary! I would have bleeped my pants if someone took me that close to the damn!

Oh, my goodness… I can’t believe you had access to your own private island for the day!! How stinkin’ COOL is that?! Your summer vacation photos are all amazing—what a fun family event. Also, I imagine that I, too, would have been hogging the waffle maker. Because, waffles. Mmmmm…